Pay-it-forward campaign honors Behrend student (Updated 4:01 p.m.)

This is an undated contributed photo of Alyssa O'Neill, an 18-year-old Millcreek Township resident and Penn State Behrend freshman who died Sept. 4 from a grand mal seizure.Contributed, ERIE TIMES-NEWS

The day before Alyssa O'Neill died, the Millcreek Township teenager sent her mother a quick text with a simple request.

O'Neill, an 18-year-old Penn State Behrend nursing student, wanted her parents to take her to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte.

They didn't get a chance to take her. O'Neill, who had epilepsy, died Sept. 4 after suffering a grand mal seizure in the shower.

After the funeral, O'Neill's parents weren't sure how to express their intense grief.

"There isn't a protocol for when you lose a child," said Jason O'Neill, Alyssa's father. "We didn't know what to do or how to do it. But we knew that lying in bed and crying didn't feel good. We wanted to feel good and honor Alyssa's memory."

The O'Neills drove to the Starbucks outside the Millcreek Mall. They paid for the next 10 pumpkin spice lattes people ordered and gave the barista a couple of purple markers.

"Purple is the color of epilepsy awareness," Jason O'Neill said. "We asked the staff that they write #AJO on the cups of pumpkin spice lattes, so people could learn more on Twitter and Instagram about Alyssa and epilepsy."

Starbucks employees were so touched by the gesture that they donated the free drinks they earn each shift -- 93 pumpkin spice lattes in all.

It was the start of a pay-it-forward, social-media tsunami that has spread across Erie and reached as far as Mexico, Germany, Afghanistan and Australia.